Buffalo, N.Y. (WBEN) - With spring comes multiple other seasons - baseball, cleaning, and the smelliest of them all - skunks. The SPCA Serving Erie County recommends taking precautions to keep skunks from becoming a potential smelly problem for you.
Gina Lattuca says it will last through mid-March.
"It actually peaked right around Valentine's Day," said Lattuca, who adds skunks will travel miles, particularly the males, to mate with multiple females.
This means you may see skunks where you don't normally see them, according to Lattuca.
"We may see skunks during the night, maybe at twilight time. You might see them now, when there's just a little bit of daylight. You might see them, particularly the females, seeking cover in places they don't normally seek cover. You normally see them under porches, dens or a shed," she noted.
Lattuca says a visit may usually be as brief as overnight for many skunks.
"The worst thing that you could do is sealing dens right now," Lattuca warned. "If you do that now and you trap a female inside, this is going to be a problem. That could be much worse, much more expensive."
Instead, she says what you do want to do is make your area as unappealing to a skunk as possible.
"Make sure there are no food sources. Make sure there's no bird food around. Get those sensor lights working again. Clean up brush piles. Invest in wind chimes. Do whatever it takes to make your area as unappealing as possible to those skunks, particularly the females that might be trying to hide out," Lattuca said.
At this time of year, skunks are extra defensive.
"There's going to be increased spraying when two males are fighting. There's going to be increased spraying when a female is rejecting a male. So you have to go on the defensive yourself," Lattuca explained. "You want to take a look around before you're going in the yard again, not just during the night, at other times of the evening as well. Make sure you're checking out your yard before you let your pets out, you just want to be careful that you're not taking a chance of getting sprayed."
Lattuca has heard of a number of remedies to get rid of the smell, if you do happen to find yourself sprayed.
"After being here so long and having a wildlife department for so long, we've heard it all," she said. "We've heard the different products and the tomato juice that people swear by. We've heard other people say those very remedies don't work. A lot of it comes down to how much you've been sprayed. When you were sprayed?"
She also notes if your animal is sprayed and your animal has a lush coat, your animal will hold on to the scent longer.